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The Valley Nerd Watch!

We finished Vacationland by John Hodgman, a former resident of Massachusetts who once met Black Francis. It was a collection of good essays, with more cairn-building stories than we had expected but fewer cairn-building stories than we had hoped.

It’s always interesting reading how other people deal with death, because we all think about it and most of us have had some sort of traumatic experience with the death of a loved one. John Hodgman does you the courtesy of being up front about it, and not presuming he can make it any less terrifying.

If you are looking to purchase a game on Steam that’s cheap before the next time it’s cheap we recommend taking a look at Tacoma. It is a lovely followup to Gone Home with well-realized characters, interesting interactive features, and an understanding of the importance of labor unions.

THIS WEEK

Art:

Writer! Write with others! Tackle your novel at an event that encourages writers of all skill levels and experience to tackle the challenge of writing a novel! This is led by Forbes Writer in Residence Naila Moreira. Prizes will be awarded to NaNoWriMo writers who finish their novels!

Board Games:

Chess, the game of dukes as they say! Hone your skills at a board game that’s really been waiting on a sequel forever! Get some games under your belt so that you’ll be able to follow the plot in the upcoming Chess: The Movie!

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! We really recommend Istanbul or Photosynthesis if they’ve got those. Chill, entertaining games of friendly competition.

Books:

Thoreau enthusiasts! Join John Clapp at the GPL as he shares readings from his book “A Tale of Two Cabins: Comparative Stories of Thoreau’s Cabin, Nature, and Life”. Find out some new things about a wonderful local author from a wonderful local author! Delightful.

“The author of the critically acclaimed The Book of Jonah explores questions of love and choice, disappointment and hope in the lives of two strangers who meet by chance in this mesmerizing tale that unfolds over one Thanksgiving Day.” Was it this past Thanksgiving day? Yes! The book was written over the course of less than a week, quite impressive.

From the site: “Join economist and educator Francisco Perez (Center for Popular Economics, UMass Amherst) for a community discussion of MacLean’s award-winning book, Democracy in Chains. Organized by Forbes Library, the Center for Popular Economics and the UMass Amherst History Department.”

This seems like the sort of question you really want to answer sooner than later. Like, we’d take a look out back if we were you. Our backyard is currently mostly Cougar-free, but we usually wait until there are absolutely no cougars there to head out to the car. For real though it’s fascinating that it’s this difficult to say 100% whether a giant cat exists in a given range of hundreds of miles!

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

A Night of Books, Trails, and Music

From the site: “The Appalachian Mountain Club and the Jones Library invite you to come spend an evening learning about the history of canoes in North America, and how you can take a canoe on the Massachusetts stretch of the Connecticut River Paddlers Trail. By land, find out more about the New England National Scenic Trail and then get serenaded by music inspired by this long-distance trail. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Refreshments will be served.”

From the site: “Join Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple for a celebration of their books about birds! The acclaimed mother/daughter author team will also talk about other stories they’ve written, and about what it’s like to be a writer.” Excellent local authors telling you about their books!

Ed Orzechowski tells the story of Donald Vitkus, who was committed to Belchertown State School in 1949 when he was six years old. He was clinically labeled a “moron”, and spent a lifetime convincing others and himself after the dehumanizing experience of schooling that he wasn’t something less. To register for the talk, call 413-283-3330 ext 0!

Card Games:

Learn to play Magic in a casual setting with the friendly staff of Modern Myths! Test out a cool new deck, play with constructed decks if other folks are into it, get special door prizes! It’s the perfect night for new Magic players or people who just want to take it easy! It’s $5 to attend, which is immediately converted to store credit.

Computers:

Monday, November 27th

Click Workspace [9Â½ Market St Northampton, MA] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

A Conversation on DevOps and Secrets Management – Monthly Full Stack Meetup

Managing secrets is a big part of deploying any app that relies on the cloud. API Keys, database credentials, AWS keys, etc. How do you manage them and keep your app secure? How do you scale up as your app gets more complex? Geri Jennings, a software engineer at CyberArk, will talk about it!

The Music of Claude Debussy Performed by Amherst College Student Chamber Musicians

Performances of the music of one of the most famous Claudes, performed by Amherst College student musicians. This is offered in conjunction with the exhibition “From the Picturesque to the Modern Vision: Landscape Painting in Europe Across the Centuries.” Free and open to all!

Talk: Have I Got a Story for You: More than a Century of Fiction from the Forward

Editor Ezra Glinter combed through the archives of the Forward to grab some of the best stories from the newspaper’s 120-year history! Wartime novellas, avant-garde fiction, satirical sketches of immigrant life, it’s got it all!

MYSTERY LOCATION at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Star Trek Discovery Episodes 8-9 & Potluck

Potluck! Star Trek! Bring something for eating or drinking, pitch in a couple bucks to pay for the streaming service, and enjoy! Join the Meetup group here: https://www.meetup.com/4scifi/

A sign-a-long for babies and toddlers! We imagine the babies are quite a bit less capable of the whole “along” part of the singalong but they have fun. There’s also always a snack, so your kids will not turn into the scary kind of Gremlin.

Movies:

Friday, December 1st

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Teen Lounge: Movie – The Dark Tower (PG-13)

The Dark Tower is a very well-regarded book series and an extremely not well-regarded film! But it’ll be fun to watch regardless.

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

“Learn how to fold kite paper into translucent starts! Perfect for decorating your windows or sending to friends in the mail. 100 times easier than origami but just as cool!” Picking a fight with Origami, eh? Bold!

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.

Video Games:

Sunday, December 3rd

The Quarters [8 Railroad St., Hadley] at 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM

MAKE TALK PLAY: Holiday Jamboree!

The last and most casual meetup of the year for local game devs! Play games on the big screen and just hang out and chat with wonderful people! Gang Beasts is a fun one for the big screen, if you’ve got it! Oh, or the Jackbox games!

The Valley Nerd Watch!

We realized halfway into writing a thing about the boardgame Root that we probably shouldn’t put like a thousand words at the top of this thing so we’re going to write a bigger thing about it tomorrow!

In the meantime we’d like to propose that you check out the newest surefire Kickstarter success “Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff by Hussie, Dril, and KC Green”. It is produced by TopatoCo, a local outfit that generally seems to do a good job. It also involves KC Green, one of the most influential artists to come out of the Pioneer Valley since Emily Dickinson.

Also John Hodgman, who did his best work while summering in the Pioneer Valley, has written a good book about his decision to become a more Maine-centric person and how that has made his life both more noble and more bleak. Vacationland is so far a quite good collection of essays that are usually funny or tragic or both and we like it. Purchase it from a local book retailer like Broadside Bookshop in Northampton!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Writer! Write with others! Tackle your novel at an event that encourages writers of all skill levels and experience to tackle the challenge of writing a novel! This is led by Forbes Writer in Residence Naila Moreira. Prizes will be awarded to NaNoWriMo writers who finish their novels!

Tuesday, November 21st

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Art Lab (Ages 4-8)

A lab where you can experiment with materials and methods of crafting art! If you are 4-8 years old, to be specific.

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Craft: Yarn Feathers (Ages 11-17) Registration Required

Yarn! Feathers! Put them together and what do you have? Oddly enough, a coffee pot. No idea why that happens, pretty sure it’s a bug. You’ve got to pre-register to make your yarn into feathers, at 413-259-3091 or contact teens@joneslibrary.org.

Adults who write for children, come hang out and critique each other! Like, constructively critique each other about books. Don’t just get together to be mean to each other in a group. Facilitated by Nell Wright! Help others and get help with your own writing!

Board Games:

Chess, the game of dukes as they say! Hone your skills at a board game that’s really been waiting on a sequel forever! Get some games under your belt so that you’ll be able to follow the plot in the upcoming Chess: The Movie!

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! We really recommend Istanbul or Photosynthesis if they’ve got those. Chill, entertaining games of friendly competition.

You can either get 20% off your purchase or donate 20% of your purchase to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts! The Food Bank donates a ton of food to your friends and neighbors, and you should do what you can to help them out! There are free refreshments all day, a gift with any purchases totaling $50 or more, and there are going to be guests including Mira Bartok and Holly Black!

Celebrate the release of the box set of The Journey Trilogy! It’s an epic wordless picture book series about a girl’s adventures into another realm! Another realms are always nice spots for adventuring. Book signing to follow program!

Community:

The holiday season is a time when a lot of people feel a ton of pressure to put themselves in really difficult situations! It’s hard for everyone and very few people are on board with our “Let’s silently play boardgames” method of dealing with difficult people during the holidays. Learn how to practice supporting your emotional well-being during a real tough time of the year!

All ages and abilities are welcome! You only sing what you feel comfortable singing, lyrics provided! You’re also going to get to sing Thriller which everyone likes! Don’t shop on Black Friday because it’s an anti-holiday designed to punish retail workers!

See Jane Yolen’s stories come to life with large string puppets! Director Therese Brady Donohue and musician Karen Tarlow bring to life adaptations of Nocturne, the Old MacDonald Sing-a-long, and Mouse’s Birthday!

This is the one where they made that super downbeat ad where it looks like the main Car died which was an odd mood to set. We’ve heard nothing particularly good about this film but we can 100% guarantee your kid will find it entrancing.

We’re not certain what separates this from just pointing at a bunch of escaped animals but we assume they have some method to slow them down briefly so you can see them more clearly or something. Advance registration required, space is limited! Call 413-665-2642!

Movies:

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM

Family Movie Matinee

A special showing of the 2017 live-action and definitely absolutely necessary Beauty and the Beast remake! See all of your favorite characters, only now all of the furniture-people are baroque and terrifying!

RPGs:

A D&D club for players 8-12! Play a god trapped in mortal form so whenever you need to retire the character you can explain to everyone that actually you were the toughest and best all along, notwithstanding that time you rolled three critical fails and tripped over your armor into a lava pit.

The Valley Nerd Watch!

We just finished the game Tales of Berseria, which was quite good! It had fun characters with whom we had a fun time, and it managed to sell a lot of the extremely emotionally charged moments that sometimes come across as forced in these sorts of stories. Plus you can do a bunch of fun fashion stuff with the characters, which is a feature literally every game should have no matter the genre. We always want to be able to dress people up! It never ever stops being funny when someone’s having an intense conversation while a doll is sitting on their shoulders.

Anyway! In other news please make it a point to check out the amazing the spectacular the definitely worthwhile to see Nerd Nite NoHo! We’ll be at the Academy of Music on the 23rd at 7pm, on the same stage that’s hosted so many amazing performers! It’ll be a hoot and a half.

We’re going to be exploring the mysteries of physics! We’ll get a better idea of how Einstein’s initial discoveries are relevant today, and we’ll explore how complex everyday physics can be, and how much we still don’t know! Plus, you’ll get to see a Nerd Nite on a screen that we’re going to assume will be almost comically huge in comparison to what we use at the World War 2 Club!

THIS WEEK

Art:

From Russia to Paris and Beyond: 20th Century Russian Artists in Europe

A lecture by Curator of European and Russian Art, Dr Alla Rosenfeld, in conjunction with the exhibition! Dr. Rosenfeld will present her insights on how the concept of ‘home’ was ever-changing for Russian artists, who fled to Western Europe. She’ll also trace the complex interconnections and rich influences between Russian and Western artists in the 20th century. Find out more about art, impress your friends, cow your enemies!

Arts in Northampton – Then, Now and Going Forward: A Conversation with Gordie Thorne and Annie Woodhull

From the site: “Gordie Thorne and Annie Woodhull, in conversation with co-director Laurie Sanders, will describe the state of the arts in Northampton in the early 1970s when they first arrived to today, with the creation of the new Northampton Community Arts Trust project at 33 Hawley Street.”

Saturday, October 14th

Animagic Museum of Animation at 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Animagic Museum Tour and Class

From the Meetup event: “This museum is showcase for all the animation/special effects artists and work done in the region. It is a very small but unique museum and you get to meet the owners. The tour takes 20-minutes and is free tour but they request $5 donation. Afterwards there is a 2-hour animation class for $20. By the end of the class you will be able to complete a very basic animation (similar to claymation) and it they upload it to youtube. ” Sounds awesome! There are a ton of great animators nearby!

Board Games:

Play board games at a wonderful local store! The staff will help you set yourself up, and you’ll quickly be exploring fun new games with a whole bunch of other friendly Valley residents! There’s also always a game demo available to show you something new! Beginners welcome, ages 13+ recommended, younger folks welcome with a parent!

Books:

Important! Please RSVP at rsvp@odysseybks.com or call 413-534-7307! From the site: “A generation ago, Constantine Madden came close to achieving what no magician had ever achieved: the ability to bring back the dead. He didn’t succeed . . . but he did find a way to keep himself alive, inside a young child named Callum Hunt.”

From the Site: “Author Elizabeth Bear returns to her critically acclaimed epic fantasy world of the Eternal Sky with a brand new trilogy. The Stone in the Skull available October 10th from Tor Books takes readers over the dangerous mountain passes of the Steles of the Sky and south into the Lotus Kingdoms.”

From the site: “Ageless Soul offers positive and inspiring guidance for becoming a full person as time goes by. Since we are all aging, it is for anyone who has ever thought about getting older. It’s especially valuable for people 50 and over. It seems more difficult than ever these days to deal creatively with aging. This book provides a deep and comprehensive plan that sees aging not as losing capacity but as becoming who you are destined to be, a real human being.” We’re actually destined to be a sort of linchpin sacrificial hero who will start the next cycle of an underlying world-myth.

Computers:

Are you on an Agile team? Do you want to be? Learn more about this management technique! The topic this week is Agile Pain Points, which we assume teaches you how to use the techniques of agile to make your foes hearts explode.

After some quick updates about local projects in progress, there will be some time to discuss upcoming projects and then get to hacking together some solutions! Get started on a wonderful new project this week! Also you get dinner!

Kids:

Join Fire Fighter Meaghan Ahearn from the Sunderland Fire Department for a special storytime! Fire, humankind’s oldest friend and most persistent nemesis, needs a constant vigil to be kept under control! Children will share stories, see a real fire truck, and learn both how to prevent fires and what to do in case of a fire!

RPGs:

Play the old familiar, the classic, the one with dungeons and also dragons! You’ll be exploring the Dwarven fortress Stone Tooth! The adventure is recommended for characters of at least level 3. To enter, you need to get a $5 day pass, but that becomes store credit immediately!

RPGs are great! Play Noirlandia, or Questlandia, or Dread, or Monsterhearts, or Apocalypse World, or Dogs in the Vineyard, or One Thousand and One Nights, or any of a lot of amazing games created right here in this Valley! They’re all very good!

Become a hero! Join the Pathfinder Society and seek out bold new adventure in this fantasy roleplaying game! It’s limited to seven people on a first-come first-serve basis, but it’s not a bad idea to stop by and say hi even if it fills up! There’s always more adventure on the way!

Science:

Hear UMass Anthropology Professor Jason Kamilar discuss his research on primate evolution! He’s a specific expert on hair, and he’ll explain why the heck we have so many different colors of hair in mammals!

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Lots going on this week! Of course the MOST important thing happening is that on October 23rd you will be able to attend the biggest event in the history of the Academy of Music: Nerd Nite at the Academy! It’ll feature two wonderful presenters discussing the most fantastic fringes of science! It’s only $5 to attend, and you can buy tickets now!

This past week we had the absolute delight of attending the Modern Myths 15th anniversary party! It was spectacular! There was delicious pizza, there were amazing vegan cupcakes, there were door prizes, there was a trivia contest, and there was the raffle for a Lifetime VIP Membership, which was won by none other than delightful Valley Creator Epidiah Ravachol! To celebrate this achievement with him, why not back his Patreon?

We really recommend checking out events at Modern Myths based on the fact that we met many people there and they were quite nice, so probably their events have nice folks there.

We love that place, and we’re really hoping for another amazing 15 years for them! It’s rough running a physical shop in the era of digital big-box stores, and we really encourage you to take your comic and board game business to Modern Myths, Northamptonites! We’d like them to stick around! Alternately just like mail stacks of money to them!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Each Tuesday, meet up in the Teen Room and walk as a group to the Radioplasma Recording Studio at 306 Race St. to learn about media literacy, get hands-on experience with song recording, journalism, storytelling, and sound mixing! Also, oddly enough, farming. No one tries to make it happen, but everyone comes out knowing more about how to till soil effectively.

“We’re taking a four week adventure through the world of collage! We’ll supply glue, markers, and old magazines to cut up, you bring any paper or photo items you want to include in your collage! On our final Tuesday, we’ll have a mini-art show to look at each other’s work.” We’re taking a four week adventure through the world of stipple art but you can’t come

Society fo Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Writing Critique Group

Writers! Do you write children’s books, middle grade books, or YA? Illustrators! Same question! If you do, get some feedback from friendly colleagues following the SCBWI guidelines so you know it’ll be useful!

Japanese Lacquer Art from the 16th to the 19th Century: Notable Collections in the United States

Monic Bincsik, the Assistant Curator of the Department of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and after you listen to her excellent lecture you’ll be able to get a book signing at a post-lecture reception! There’s also probably some food and drinks at the reception!

Gen Saratani, a Japanese lacquer artist and restorer, will demonstrate key components of the complicated lacquer that has been passed down for generations! Drop in at any time to meet the artist and see him at work!

Following a morning demonstration, Gen Saratani will present an overview of the technical process using examples of his work! There will be lunch provided for the first 30 attendees and bitter disappointment for the rest of the attendees!

Women’s & Gender Center, Keefe Campus Center at 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Artist Lunch with Saya Woolfwalk at the WGC

You have been invited to have lunch with an amazing contemporary female artist! Saya Woolfalk will teach you more about her practice and her experiences as a female artist!

A talk in conjunction with Rotherwas Project No. 3, Saya Woolfwalk: Life Products and the ChimaCloud. She was born in Gifu City, Japan, and is now based in New York. She’s known for exploring hybridity, race, science, and gender.

Play board games at a wonderful local store! The staff will help you set yourself up, and you’ll quickly be exploring fun new games with a whole bunch of other friendly Valley residents! There’s also always a game demo available to show you something new! Beginners welcome, ages 13+ recommended, younger folks welcome with a parent!

Books:

Ms. Kraft will talk about and read from the reknowned novel Stone Tablets. Written by the famed Polish author Wojciech Zukrowski, it was censured after its publication in 1965 for the criticism it level at the abuses perpetrated by Stalin. It was forbiddin to translate the novel until the fall of the Soviet Union!

In modern New York, magic is all but extinct. And in the book! The few who do have magical affinity hide themselves, and any who enter Manhattan become trapped, forever! And in the book! And speaking of books, Esta is a time-travelling thief who’s going to try to steal a book from the past to make that weird situation less bad!

Oh jeez, such language. That’s what the book’s called, though! Rat Faked, about how rats aren’t real. No wait it’s about rigging the House and state legislatures for the benefit of a Republican party that relies on voter suppression rather than policy proposals anyone likes. Read the book, then talk about it with the Active Citizens Club!

Play with a brand-new set of Magic Cards! They’re all kind of generally themed around like a faux El Dorado. This is a Sealed Deck tournament! Build the best 40-card deck you can with the new cards and compete for promo items! It’s $30 in advance, $35 at the door.

Community:

Tuesday, September 19th

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM

Cultural Council Public Information Meeting

Get some information about the Cultural Council, public at large! It’s not just your right, it’s your duty!

Celebrate Grito del Lares, the holiday marking Puerto Rico’s attempt to gain independence, with Dr. Solsiree del Moral. Dr. del Moral is an Associate Professor of American Studies and Black Studies and the Chair of American Studies at Amherst College. She will speak about five books on Puerto Rican history that she considers essential to understanding Puerto Rico and US colonialism.

Teens and young adults ages 14-22, get some tips on managing your busy schedule! Also a post-talk Yoga class which will be nice. Our hot tip for managing your time: you can always procrastinate and stay up later! If you don’t sleep, it will never be the next day! That’s just science.

Computers:

Talk about your current projects, any problems and solutions you might have to share, and then listen to a presentation on the basics of WordPress customization! Learn how to develop and modify WordPress plugins and styles, learn about the API and setting up dev environments, and how to test and publish your ideas. Press your words with even greater effectiveness!

Learn more about Drupal! Get so good with it that you can then apply those skills to making the world’s greatest website! There’s a packed schedule of guided discussion and demonstration of techniques.

Did you know that cocoons are only for moths and caterpillars? We kind of thought they were the same thing as butterfly chrysalises but nope, they’re spun with silk whereas the chrysalis is just like made of the animal, which is weird. This workshop is $286 for six weeks and we have no danged idea what it’s about. You’ll apparently consider the elements of body, space, and time with Lisa Hoag. Check it out at https://reg135.imperisoft.com/HCAC/ProgramDetail/35363937/Registration.aspx if your’e interested!

Librarian and officially licensed Tech Wizard Dylan Tibert will teach you the fundamentals of designing your own website using WordPress. Classes will be a one hour lecture followed by a hands-on workshop. Perfect for experienced computer users who are beginners at web design! This class covers how to advertise and make a site people actually see!

Naturalist and co-director Laurie Sanders will take you for a 2-hour exploration of one of the oldest conservation areas in Northampton! It’s an important wildlife habitat with a network of nicely maintained trails. It’s $8 for members, $12 non-members, register at lsanders@historicnorthampton.org to get directions to the meetup site! Limit of 20!

All are welcome! The theme this month is new beginnings, featuring Christopher Eccleston and Peter Capaldi as the titular “Doctor Who”.

Sunday, September 24th

MYSTERY LOCATION at 6:30 PM to 11:00 PM

Star Trek Discovery Premiere Pizza Party – Bring Toppings!

Sign up at the Meetup to find this spectacular event! https://www.meetup.com/4scifi/events/243401659/ Bring your own toppings for a delicious pizza, crust with sauce will be there already! Vegan options as well! Event starts at 6:30pm, first episode at 8:30pm, and then second after it if everyone would like!

History:

Called to Serve – Stories of men and Women confronted by the Vietnam War Draft

Noted Valley Creator Ken Burns – he’s a Hampshire grad it counts – will be premiering his and collaborator Lynn Novick’s newest 18-hour documentary series The Vietnam War. At this event, author Tom Weiner will give a presentation to share his book on the Vietnam War draft and give folks an opportunity to offer their responses to the series and the war.

A sign-a-long for babies and toddlers! We imagine the babies are quite a bit less capable of the whole “along” part of the singalong but they have fun. There’s also always a snack, so your kids will not turn into the scary kind of Gremlin.

Movies:

Tuesday, September 19th

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Jane Austen Film Festival: Sense & Sensibility

A classic of the genre that we can’t completely remember but definitely have read/seen because it’s well-known that it’s great. It’s just that “romance, drama, comedy, and pithy characters” sums up like a good deal of Austen and it’s hard for us to place this one.

RPGs:

Play the old familiar, the classic, the one with dungeons and also dragons! You’ll be exploring the Dwarven fortress Stone Tooth! The adventure is recommended for characters of at least level 3. To enter, you need to get a $5 day pass, but that becomes store credit immediately!

Become a hero! Join the Pathfinder Society and seek out bold new adventure in this fantasy role-playing game! It’s limited to seven people on a first-come first-serve basis, but it’s not a bad idea to stop by and say hi even if it fills up! There’s always more adventure on the way!

Science:

“From September 18-22, a small archaeological dig will be underway behind the Parsons House (1719) to investigate a historic well and its immediate surroundings. On Tuesday, September 19, from 10 am to 4 pm, you’re invited to come by the site and talk to professional archaeologists Craig Chartier and Greg Walwer about what they’re doing and finding.” Talk to some archaeologists about their work! It’s wild how little time needs to pass for things to start being hidden in a way that takes care to unravel!

The Valley Nerd Watch!

We just moved! Our new place is very very good and we like it but what we don’t like is that all of our muscles and organs are now gone. They transubstantiated about 4 hours into the move and now we’re mostly composed of noodles and it’s just not working out as well as organs used to. That’s why there’s a lot of “from the site” this week and why it’s coming out late! Jeez for real typing feels like work, why does moving ever happen.

Of note this week: we’re doing Nerd Nite tomorrow at the World War Two Club at 50 Conz St. in Northampton at 7:00pm EVEN THOUGH we are basically the most tired, it’s heroic.

Second: local creator Epidiah Ravachol (buy his games, buy his magazine, support local creators!) has a podcast about the Rockford Files and we’ll be honest we’re kind of excited. What even IS the Rockford Files? We’re gonna see if they ever explain that. This could be the next U Talking U2 2 Me!

Oh also also the book Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer was real good, read that one quick reminded us of some of the thinkier 70’s SF our dad liked and the Gwent free-to-play game they just put out? Weirdly good! Just like, good old-fashioned fun. Updated to be not as easy to cheese as the game featured in the game The Witcher 3, which is good.

Books:

From the site: “In Danger Under Ground, Alice is on the move again as she follows the trail of a highly charged kidnapping. Her friend Felicia, her dashing French lover Gerard, and their young tattooed friends Warp and RubyStarr must expose this politically-motivated crime.”

From the site: “Jane Bunker thought she’d escaped the pollution, noise, and dead bodies of the big city when she left her job as a Miami homicide detective and moved back to the idyllic town of Green Haven, Maine. But through her work as a marine insurance investigator, it appears she’s left behind the bustle of the city, but not the murder.” But the murder’s the worst part!

Card Games:

From the site: “Friday Night Magic: Amonkhet Draft. This is a limited booster draft using the new set, Amonkhet! Tournament with Swiss Pairing. Entry: $18.00 Prizes: At least one AmonkhetBooster, promo cards, and possibly winning more boosters depending on match results.

Community:

We’re assuming this is about public transit conditions in Franklin County and how they affect the lives of residents in unequal ways which we as a community must address rather than a pitch for a new Star Trek police procedural but we can’t be 100% certain.

Computers:

Monday, June 12th

MYSTERY LOCATION at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Using Elastisearch – Monthly Full Stack Meetup

From the site: “Half database and half search engine, Elasticsearch powers things like GitHub’s code search, eBay’s item listing, and Netflix’s internal logs and metrics. Come learn about the basics of Elasticsearch and full-text indexing from Ross Johnson, who has been using Elasticsearch for 6 years to power document search in web apps.” Take a look at the meetup group to sign up and see the MYSTERY LOCATION! https://www.meetup.com/wmasswebdev/events/240263959/

From the site: “Are you curious about flow-based Agile methods? Kanban provides a continuous flow of project work, in contrast to Scrum’s iterative process. In this session, Lisa Sieverts will provide an overview of Kanban, we’ll see the magic of limiting work-in-progress, and we’ll share stories and insights”

From the site: “WordPress sure is a neat platform, but what if your WordPress site is based on selling products or services? WooCommerce is a popular plugin that helps make it easy for your customers to buy your products and services inside the WordPress framework. Marjorie Ray will provide a short overview of how she uses Woocommerce on her children’s educational toy site.” and more!

History:

Chaotic Freedom in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image by Bruce Laurie

From the site: “Bruce Laurie will speak on his research into two Pioneer Valley soldiers who changed the course of the Civil War. Laurie’s work culminated in the essay, “Chaotic Freedom” in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image, a Working Titles e-book published by The Massachusetts Review.”

Kids:

From the site: “Calling kids, tweens, and teens- try out our new spoken word program in the Children’s Department! The first meeting will be Friday June 16th, at 3:30. Rah represented Northampton at the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam, and Kat holds a Masters in Poetry. Come create, experience, and learn about poetry with us!”

Movies:

From the site: “AWAKE is a Josh Fox-directed film chronicling the native-led peaceful resistance at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, against the construction of the $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), intended to carry fracked oil from North Dakota’s oil fields through native land and under the Missouri River, the water source for the Standing Rock reservation (and 17 million people downstream).”

Saturday, June 17th

Millside Park [2 Ferry St., Easthampton, MA] at 8:30 PM to 11:30 PM

The Dark Crystal

Free movie! Popcorn and refreshments available for purchase, bring a blanket and bug spray! Watch this weird as heck old Henson film on the big screen!

From the site: “With a chaotic climate, so much foul weather, and many other threats to their existence, there can be no better time to start supporting native bees and butterflies, and no better way than planting pesticide-free flowers and making nests in our yards and public spaces. Come see what we can do to brighten the futures for these critically important beneficial insects.”

From the site: “Presented by moth aficionado Betsy Higgins, the evening will include an indoor slide presentation about the diversity of moths in our area. Following this, we will head outdoors to check out the variety of night-flying insects drawn to Higgins’ black lights and mercury vapor lamps. The evening will conclude with a light show, courtesy of thousands of fireflies in the nearby meadows.” pre-registration required at lsanders@historicnorthampton.org, $10 members, $15 non-members!

Hello! Just letting you all know that a game we played and enjoyed which was developed by some local folks out in Worcester had a fine showing in a recent Kickstarter to which you can still contribute! There are eight more days to go and a few more stretch goals to unlock, like custom dice!

Mostly this is a reminder to you that you can use the Kickstarter as a pre-order of a fun locally developed game if you’d like! We wrote about playing it previously and it boils down to being a very quick to set up and play tactics game in the vein of Battletech but without all the incredibly detailed fiddliness and with the silliness of robots that become arms and legs for bigger robots.

Not certain if that sounds like your thing? Try the demo on tabletop simulator!

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Hello friends! Hope you’re having a lovely start of spring.

Remember to come out to Nerd Nite NoHo next Monday! It’s going to be a very nice time where two excellent people will present about two excellent topics. We’ll have nature guide Kery Emma Ellis discussing the scourge of “Greenwashing” by people attempting to pretend their products and services are “good for nature” despite being “basically just lying and using green and teal on the packaging a lot”! That’s going to be followed up with Greg Dennis, Research Director for Voter Choice Massachusetts, talking about ranked choice voting!

We’d also like to specifically point out the 2017 Pioneer Valley Zine Fest! Zines are fun and neat and there are a ton of folks who are going to be there with really cool artwork so you should go see them and say “Wow, nice job! Here is the amount of money you’ve indicated this zine or other piece of artwork costs!”

THIS WEEK

Art:

Anna M. Warrock and Cindy Snow will present readings from their new works! Anna M. Warrock has had a poem installed permanently in the Boston subway which means she’s going to probably eventually inspire some kind of post-apocalyptic cult eventually. Cindy Snow has been featured in a bunch of poetry reviews and she does peer tutoring at Greenfield Community College. Both of them have chapbooks out for your reading pleasure!

Drop into the museum for an open mic, poetry reading, and one-night art exchange in the museum! Open mic begins at 6pm and the featured readers follow: Jenna Baillargeon is a second year at Hampshire, and is the featured Open Mic reader, and students of The Literacy Project will be reading original memoirs and poems afterward, accompanied by Judith Willams on the keyboard.

Saturday, April 8th

Flywheel Arts Collective [43 Main St., Easthampton, MA 01027]

2017 Pioneer Valley Zine Fest

Zines! Zines for miles! Join zine creators and fans from around New England! It’s a great chance to see amazing artwork and give the people who produce it a few bucks! Zines are keen!

Board Games:

Games! Beautiful board games! Have a great time playing games and enjoying a friendly community! Have a drink at a nice bar and hang out with people who are nice also. This wee, Forbidden Island and Innovation are the featured games!

See http://www.the131.com/forum for details! This tournament will test your ability to command the forces of weird grossness in the game Malifaux, which is distinct from other tabletop games in a manner we are not qualified to comment upon. Mostly we notice that there are a lot of Frankenstein monster looking things.

Burger King Community Room [344 King St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 12:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Tabletop Gaming Day

Game! At a table! With tops! Play with tops, is what we’re saying. Play with the bet game of all: tabletops. The game of kings! Beyblade we just realized our joke game is also Beyblade. But for actual this meetup usually goes for Euro-games like Settlers/Carcassone etc, but they’re open to whatever you’re interested in!

Books:

How do you stay true to the folks you care about while trying to change the world? That’s what botany major Jeremy has to struggle with when he gets wrapped up with a group of eco-terrorists trying to save the plants he loves, and is inextricably bound to.

John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire with Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear

The Odyssey Bookshop is hosting a big ol’ sci-fi hootenanny! John Scalzi will talk about his latest book, and he’ll be joined by fellow wonderful authors Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear! The book’s about a far future where humanity finds a sort of hyperspace river that allows FTL travel, but then finds that it’s slowly moving around and soon the quick travel that maintains an interstellar empire will no longer be where it needs to be! It sounds neat!

Three excellent YA authors on a panel talking about their three recent books that are all about tragic circumstances and young women dealing with difficult issues.

Hooker Auditorium, Mount Holyoke College at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Lindy West, Shrill: Notes From A Loud Woman

Lindy West will speak and read from her memoir! Hilarious tales of how to handle just generally the unfortunate bits of being alive. Lindy West is a prolific writer and generally regarded as “wicked good at writing and also wicked funny”.

Community:

Pioneer Valley Project invites you to join them in the fight to end mass incarceration in Massachusetts! If you’re into the idea of repealing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses, changing some felony thresholds, increasing funding for re-entry programs and education during incarceration then you should help them fight for these reforms!

Entertainment:

A staged read by the Holyoke Community College theater department of the play Getting Out, a play by the Pulitzer-winning author of ‘Night Mother. The play is the story of Arlene, a woman struggling to survive on the outside after being incarcerated for eight years in a Kentucky Prison.

Have you ever wanted to make a tiny world that’s entirely comprised of people frozen in time save for the trains? Are the trains the masters of this world, or do they merely exist in some other state of being? Well two railroad enthusiasts, George Reneris and Harry Ruddock, will help answer questions about how you can put together a sweet model railroad!

Figure out how to get your stuff to stop being a gigantic terrible pile of nonsense that you don’t need or want! Dave Downs will offer some upbeat tips for getting all your various junk into a place where it can no loner bother you!

Dr. Gilbery Welch, author of “Less Medicine, More Health: 7 Assumptions that Drive Too Much Medical Care” will present in a free public forum! He’s a general internist with an interest in the issues created by overzealous efforts to detect early disease, mostly over-screening for cancer. It’s worth taking a look, maybe you’ll be less inclined to freak out over your own health!

Community Building as Resistance: The Northampton Association at 175 years.

Commemorate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Northampton Association of Education and Industry! First you’ll get a walking tour of the Northampton Association Lands, and then you’ll see two lectures and a panel, about Abolition and Community in Northampton in the 1840s and construction of the progressive industrial village of Florence. And finally, a panel about the meaning of the Northampton Association Experiment!

History:

This is a huge day! There’s a bunch to learn about ancient Rome! Inspired by the exhibition of the Villas of Oplontis near Pompeii that’s currently ongoing at the museum, there are a ton of things going on! Make your own fresco! Tour with a docent! Watch seventh-graders perform skits about ancient Rome! Stroll through a recreated Roman Garden!

Movies:

Finding Babel chronicles a grandson’s search for the legacy of the greatest prose writer of the Russian Jewish community, and whose subversive work led t his tragic end. Isaac Babel is best known for his short story collections Odessa Stories and Red Cavalry, he challenged the ideology of the early Soviet Union and that challenging writing resulted in his execution in 1940 by the Soviet Regime. This movie tracks his grandson’s journeys through Ukraine, France, and Russian to confront the relevance of his ancestor’s work.

RPGs:

Magestry is looking for anyone interested in being an orc, a monster, a brigand, a barbarian, a general-purpose rough customer! They need a lot of NPCs to take care of an increasing number of PCs! You can play for free and even get food! You don’t even need to stay the whole weekend, a couple of hours would be a big help! Find out more by contacting NPC@Magestry.com or checking out the meetup at https://www.meetup.com/larping/events/238838016/